Don’t forget to winterize your outside spigots!

Winter’s just around the corner. Everyone’s got fall on their mind now, raking leaves, taking in the deck furniture, removing screens and putting the glass storm doors back on.

Just a friendly reminder from your friends at Accurate Plumbing. Don’t forget to disconnect those garden hoses from your outside spigots before the first freeze. I can’t tell you how many outside spigots we replace in the spring, with hoses still attached!

Water freezes in the hose and breaks the tiny parts in the vacuum breaker assembly or worse yet, freezes and cracks the anti freeze outside spigot.

Remember, anti freeze spigots only work if the hose is either completely drained of water or disconnected from the spigot all together.

How they work:

Anti freeze spigots have a long stem with a washer attached to the end to stop the water when you shut the spigot off. The stem is usually 6” to 12” long. This allows the water to actually be shut off inside the heated part of your house. By leaving a hose attached, filled with water, the spigot actually freezes from the outside in, towards the washer.

Some outside spigots are not the anti freeze type and should be shut off in the house and drained every season.

How do I shut off my outside spigots?

Code requires every outside spigot to have an accessible shut off valve in close proximity to the spigot, generally in the basement or crawl space. Some slab houses have them in the mechanical room near the hot water heater or under a sink. To shut the valve off just turn the handle clockwise until it stops.